MSU, Guskiewicz Tap WMU's Bartholomae as New AD
In this story:
Michigan State has its new athletic director.
The school and president Kevin Guskiewicz are hiring Western Michigan athletic director Dan Bartholomae to the same position at MSU, sources within the administration has confirmed with Spartan Nation on Monday morning. Bartholomae is replacing J Batt, who left East Lansing for Kentucky. Jon Palumbo had officially been the interim AD since July 10.
Bartholomae's Fundraising Success
Bartholomae has been a popular name that has been tossed around often since the moment Batt left. The proximity to WMU is one thing, but the mixture of success as a fundraiser and on the field also made him a pretty obvious candidate. Michigan State will have to pay Western Michigan a hefty buyout in the range of $5 million, though most of that is offset by the $3.95 million MSU is getting from Kentucky for Batt.
Just last month, WMU announced that it had a record-breaking fundraising year during FY26. The Broncos reported more than $21.8 million in donations, with that money coming from 3,800 unique donors. That's a massive 473% increase in donations since Bartholomae took over the Western Michigan athletic department in January 2022. He's also more than doubled the number of unique donors.
On-Field Success for WMU
Fans are more concerned with the number of wins they are experiencing, though. Bartholomae was tasked with finding a new head football coach a year or so into his tenure after he fired Tim Lester following a 5-7 year in 2022.
He went and picked Lance Taylor as the team's new coach. Taylor had been a decorated position coach, but he had only been an offensive coordinator for one season, and he had no head coaching experience. It's worked out. Taylor delivered a MAC championship in Year 3, and Bartholomae was able to quickly extend him through 2030 back in December.
Bartholomae has also overseen the rise in Western Michigan's men's ice hockey program. He's been there for the first NCAA Tournament win in 2022, the first NCHC regular-season and tournament titles in 2025, and then the first national championship in 2025. It was Western Michigan's first national title in any sport in 60 years.
Western Michigan has also finished atop the MAC in the Director's Cup Standings (which weighs all sports) each of the last three academic years.
Other Notable Experience for Bartholomae
Before he got the AD job at Western Michigan, Bartholomae was the executive deputy athletic director at Oregon State, where he actually overlapped a lot with former Michigan State head football coach Jonathan Smith.
One big thing that's notable from his time at OSU was that Bartholomae was the lead on a project to renovate Oregon State's Reser Stadium. MSU is hoping to get some big renovations underway at Spartan Stadium in the next few years with its "For Sparta" capital campaign, so having somebody who has done a project like that on a slightly smaller scale is valuable.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
Follow jacobcotsonika